Big Bang Theory, "The Precious Fragmentation": It's one ring in a box!

Very funny "Big Bang Theory" last night, I thought. I probably would have watched an entire episode that was nothing but the guys pulling different items out of their cardboard box of geek treasures, and/or an entire episode of the guys trying to psych each other out in their hands-on-a-hard-ring competition, while still making the effort to move together ("And plie! And releve!"). As things stand, it probably worked that we only got a bit of each, but I enjoyed both greatly.

The one flaw, as usual, was that Leonard and Penny as a couple just don't work at all, and having Penny constantly ask herself why she's dating Leonard doesn't really solve that problem.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Excelsior Acquisition": One angry Sheldon

Last night's "Big Bang Theory" had its moments (primarily, for this comic book fanboy, Raj's endless rant about Stan Lee's penchant for goofy character names). Overall, though, it felt like one of those episodes the show will do on occasion where the writers try to figure out which old sitcom trope might be funny if they insert Sheldon into it. And Sheldon's day in court/jail had a rough draft feel to it, as if the idea of putting him in those settings had been satisfying enough for everyone involved. I hope when Sheldon inevitably delivers a breach baby in an elevator next season, there's a bit more polish.

Still, Stan Lee seemed more convincing as himself than he did in either "Mallrats" or that "Who Wants to Be a Super-Hero?" reality show he did.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Large Hadron Collission": Swiss miss

Dealing with the ongoing comment apocalypse in the "Chuck" episode post has occupied far too much of my day, so I'll be quick on last night's "Big Bang Theory." Sheldon's Tuvan throat singing was funny (even if they went to the well once too often), and I liked his various schemes and rationales for getting to go on the trip (particularly the pancakes in the shape of Leonard's favorite fictional characters), even if I don't believe that Penny would have made the offer she did in the laundry room. (Fienberg, on the other hand, argues that Penny was completely insincere and just trying to get him to go away.) Also, Raj's list of depressing Valentine's Day rituals was very funny.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Einstein Approximation": Ball pit Bazinga

Though the scene with Sheldon and Leonard in the ball pit on last night's "Big Bang Theory" was hysterical, overall I found the episode to be one of those occasional outings where Sheldon's behavior is pushed so far to the extreme that you wonder why any human being would tolerate him, why Leonard would live with him, the others be friends with him, etc. And I usually find those episodes tough to take, as was the case here.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Maternal Congruence": My mother! My girlfriend! My mother! My girlfriend!

The return of Leonard's mother on last night's "Big Bang Theory" wasn't quite as strong as her original appearance last year, I thought. Inherently funny as Christine Baranski is, and as good as she is with Jim Parsons, it felt a bit one-note - or, at least, like it was repeating the same note we heard last year. Funny in spots, particularly in the car ride back from the airport, but not one of the season's best.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Gorilla Experiment": I am so smart! S-M-R-T!

A quick review of last night's "Big Bang Theory" coming up just as soon as a racially stereotypical plumber eats my dust...

Another funny episode, as per usual. It's nice to see Bernadette (aka Howard's Girlfriend Bernadette) integrated into the group, and to see that she's at least learned to identify Howard's jokes, if not understand them, as that seemed a bigger stumbling block to the relationship than the Megan Fox issue. Simon Helberg had a great time playing a smug, content version of Howard, even if that was revealed to be a bit of a facade from a guy who's still not secure about his ability to get and keep a woman.

And the Penny/Sheldon interaction was gold, as always. This was a really strong episode for Kaley Cuoco, from Penny's playful taunting of Sheldon in the opening scene to Penny's exasperation at Sheldon's teaching methods.

The teaching scene was also a reminder of the opportunity they missed to not actually show Sheldon teaching Leonard about football under similar circumstances in "The Cornhusker Vortex," which instead spent most of its time on the less funny spectacle of Leonard awkwardly trying to show off his new knowledge.

But then, I wonder (as Todd VanDerWerff did with this episode) if Leonard isn't starting to feel a bit extraneous to his own show. Not a slight against Johnny Galecki, but the strongest episodes tend to be ones that put Sheldon together with Penny, or some other combination of Sheldon, Penny, Raj and Howard. The Leonard/Penny-focused episodes particularly seem like the weakest, though of course that relationship does lead to a lot of the Sheldon/Penny material, since Penny mostly tolerates Sheldon because she likes his best friend.

Every comedy needs a straight man, and Leonard does sort of work as a bridge between nerd world and the real world (though he's still a little too far on the nerd side), but I've definitely noticed a pattern - The Inverse Hofstadter Ratio? - where the more central Leonard is to the stories, the less entertaining the episode is.

What did everybody else think?

Big Bang Theory, "The Vengeance Formulation": The Pasadena way

Thoughts on last night's "Big Bang Theory" coming up just as soon as I try to be the 101st caller to my favorite radio station...

The biggest laughs in "The Vengeance Formulation" were contained in the Sheldon vs. Kripke storyline, with the one-two punch of Sheldon way overdoing the prank and the ill-timed, overly-explanatory video that followed it. But I want to mainly talk about Wolowitz.

Howard is by far the most problematic character, the one the show usually seems to be laughing at, rather than with. So I commend any episode which attempts to humanize him - even if part of that humanization involves his masturbatory fantasy of taking a bath with Katee Sackhoff. And I thought this one did a better job than the episode last year where Penny tore into Howard for being an utter loser. There, it felt like the writers were paying lip service to the idea that Howard's not just a clown, but their hearts weren't in it. Here, he made tangible progress with Bernadette(*), and the idea of him having a regular girlfriend has real promise, and at the very least, will take the character out of his rut.

(*) Did they name her Bernadette because they knew at some point Howard was going to do his own mangled version of The Four Tops song?

However, I do wish that they hadn't gone with the obvious, superficial dilemma that Howard feared Bernadette wasn't hot enough, especially since the actress is plenty cute and has just been dowdied up a bit to be a plausible Wolowitz girlfriend. I know that Howard is a relentless horndog with an overdeveloped sense of ego, but I think the more interesting way to go - and a story that they could still very easily do - would have been for Howard to get hung up on the fact that the two of them have nothing in common, other than a shared resentment towards their families. The first Bernadette episode dealt with this, but I think there's plenty of mileage left in the idea that everyone thinks Howard should be so grateful to have a nice, attractive girlfriend and he can't quite appreciate her because she doesn't know or care about robots or "Battlestar Galactica." That seems like a conflict that's richer, one that might give Howard a little more credit as a person, instead of just having fantasy Starbuck tell him he needs to settle for someone less overtly hot.

Of course, going that way would have deprived the show's target audience of a glimpse of Katee Sackhoff in the tub. Can't blame the show for giving its fans what they want, I suppose.

What did everybody else think?